Applicator including vibratory dispenser with charger



Nov. 19, 1968 K.-HUTCHIINSON 3,411,479

APPLICATOR INCLUDING VIBRATORY DISPENSER WITH CHARGER Filed June 16,1966 Sheets-Sheet l pksss 82/ /9 PPA/?A s 92 C if 90 LLI I IIV/ENTOR!THOMAS KHuTcH/Mscw Z/// 3054 444 albu mgdw Nov. 19, 1968 T, K.HUTCYHINVSON 3,411,479

APPLICATOR INCLUDING VIBRATORY DISPENSER WITH CHARGER Filed June 16,1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 42 62 0 A. g A 24 jfi 2 4 RES QPPA RATUS mVENTOQ: I THOMAS K. Hu rcuuvsolv,

65 BY .2 I z %TZR-/5 1968 'r. K. HUTCHINSON 3,411,479

APPLICATOR INCLUDING VIBRATORY DISPENSER WITH CHARGER Filed June 16,1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 lNl/EA/TOR: THO MAS K. Hurc H/MS 0N,

HTTOENE/S United States Patent 3,411,479 APPLICATOR INCLUDING VIBRATORYDISPENSER WITH CHARGER Thomas K. Hutchinson, 4649 Levis Lane, Godfrey,Ill. 62035 Filed June 16, 1966, Ser. No. 558,104 6 Claims. (Cl. 118-7)This inventionrelates to improvements in the manufacture of shell molds,and, in particular, is concerned with gluing machines for dispensingdroplets of glue in a highly controlled manner of bonding together ofshell molds.

In the manufacture of shell molds, droplets of liquid glue are appliedto the drag section of a mold followed by the positioning of the copesection in proper relation to the drag portion of the mold, andsubsequently placing the assembled mold in a press to clamp the moldtogether for a sufficient period of time to allow the glue to bond tothe two drag and cope sections of the mold. The bonded mold issubsequently transferred to the pouring floor where molten metal is castinto the mold.

In the past a variety of methods and apparatus have been devised forapplying droplets of glue to the top surface of the drag section of amold in a predetermined pattern. One such type of apparatus employs anopen bottom glue container wiped across the upper surface of a gluepattern plate. As the container passes over the holes in the plate,droplets of glue fall onto the top surface of the drag section of themold. The location of these holes controls the location of the dropletsas they fall on to the mold surface, while the size of the hole and theViscosity of the glue control the amount of glue in the droplet.Difliculty has been encountered in the application of glue as describedabove due to improper control causing occasional drops of glue to fallinto the mold cavity. This causes the ultimate casting to be defective.Such improper applications of droplets of glue arise due to therequirement of reasonably rapid operation, which necessitates arelatively low viscosity of glue. In such operation, droplets tend tospread and cling to the undersurface of the gluing plate, andsubsequently fall when the mold is being removed and fall into a moldcavity.

It is a principal feature of this invention that apparatus has beenprovided to insure the dispensing of glue droplets in a highlycontrolled manner to insure that they fall only during a specifiedperiod of time, and whereby haphazard dripping or falling of droplets ofglue is avoided. In this invention a vibrator is employed which causesthe droplets of glue in the dispensing operation to fall immediately ina free manner upon the selected area of the drag portion of the mold,whereby hanging and spreading of the glue on the undersurface of thegluing plate is avoided. Further, the gluing plate is provided with aspecial hole configuration which is cylindrical at the top and conicalat the bottom with a downward diverging flare to insure the free fall ofthe glue. Additionally, the viscosity of the glue is relatively high, asrelated to conventional glues used in this art.

The features of the vibrator, the special gluing plate with theparticularly configured holes, and the proper viscosity of the glue arecombined with an automatic timing cycle, which is actuated by moving thedrag section of the mold upon a carriage into proper registry underneaththe gluing machine to a limiting position where a contact actuates atimer switch to start the cycle of the gluing operation. Pneumaticcontrol means are provided to move a glue container over the gluingplate to dispense glue, followed by a timing cycle to vibrate the gluingplate and cause droplets of glue to fall through the speciallyconfigured holes into a selected pattern on the drap sec- 3,411,479Patented Nov. 19, 1968 ice tion of the mold. At the conpletion of thecycle, the vibrator is stopped and the carriage can be withdrawn fromthe gluing apparatus for further conventional operations in the shellmold manufacture.

The above features are objects of this invention and further objectswill appear in the detailed description which follows and will beotherwise apparent to those skilled in the art.

For the purpose of illustration of this invention, there is shown in theaccompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof. It is to beunderstood that these drawings are for the purpose of example only,however, and that the invention is not limited thereto.

FIGURE 1 is a generally diagrammatic view in front elevation of thegluing machine and its work environment showing a mold carriage situatedabove a mold table and with the mold press;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view in elevation of the left side of FIGURE 1with the tank omitted and showing the carriage underneath the gluingapparatus;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary top plan view taken similarly to FIGURE 2 butshowing only the left hand side of the apparatus, and showing thecompletion of a cycle after the drag section of the mold has beenapplied with droplets of glue and withdrawn from the apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 1, showing in broken lines theprocess of application of the cope half of the mold after the gluingoperation has been completed;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged view in section of the drag half of the moldwith the droplets of glue applied and the cope half about to bepositioned in registry thereon;

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged top plan view of the gluing apparatus showingthe glue trough half way through an operation;

FIGURE 8 is a view in vertical section taken on the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7showing the construction of the gluing apparatus and the mounting of thevibrator;

FIGURE 9 is a view in vertical section taken on line 99 of FIGURE 7showing the mounting of the gluing apparatus; I

FIGURE 10 is a view in vertical section taken on the line 1010 of FIGURE7 showing further details of the mounting of the gluing apparatus andthe structure of the glue trough;

FIGURE 11 is an enlarged view in vertical cross section, taken on theline 1111' of FIGURE 7, and showing the relationship of the glue troughand the gluing plate and the structure of the glue hole;

FIGURE 12 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of one-half of the moldcarriage with the drag section of the mold shown in position in dottedlines;

FIGURE 13 is a view in front elevation of the mold carriage; and

FIGURE 14 is a schematic diagram of the limit switch and timerarrangement.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows the gluing apparatus ofthis invention, generally identified by the reference numeral 20,positioned at the left side of a work table 22. A press apparatus,designated by the reference numeral 24, is situated at the right side ofthe work area. A pair of carriage rails 26 extend between the gluingapparatus and the press apparatus, and receive a carriage 28, which isfashioned to support the shell mold in the manufacturing process andapparatus of this invention. -FIGURE 1 shows a drag half 30 of a shellmold about to be positioned upon the carriage with conventional shellcores 32 to be positioned inside the drag. The gluing apparatus is bestshown in FIGURES 7 through 11. It is comprised of front verticalsupports 34 which are bolted to the work table and rear verticalsupports 36,

likewise bolted to the Work table. The vertical supports straddle therails and are bolted to a perforated gluing plate 38, as best shown inFIGURE 10. A frame member 40, best shown in FIGURES 7 and 10, is in turnbolted upon the top portion of the gluing plate to define a reservoir orcontrolled area for the dispensing of glue through the plate. The frameserves in the nature of a guard when glue container 42 is moved over theplate, as will be further described hereinbelow. The frame hasupstanding side walls 44 to define a rectangular configuration and areprovided with flanges 46, whereby the frame maybe bolted to the gluingplate.

The gluing plate is provided with a plurality of gluing holes, generallyidentified by the reference numeral 48. The construction of these gluingholes is best shown in FIGURE 11 Where it will be seen that these holeshave a top cylindrical bore portion and a bottom downwardly divergingconical portion 52, which has approximately an 8 taper. For purpose ofexample only, the cylindrical portion may be about one-third as long asthe conical portion where a perforating plate of one-quarter inchthickness is employed. The perforating plate is preferably made of aplastic material, such as rigid Plexiglas, but it will be understoodthat other materials of construction may be similarly employed.

The glue container 42 is generally in the nature of a trough having areinforced bottom section 56 defining a restricted throat section 58, asshown in FIGURE 11. The glue container is connected by connecting rod 60to an air cylinder 62, which is adapted to move the container from theposition shown in FIGURE 7 backwards and forwards to limiting positionsat the front and rear of the frame 40, it being understood that acomplete operation constitutes one pass in either direction from frontto rear or in the reverse.

The vibrator used to vibrate the gluing apparatus is best shown inFIGURES 7, 8 and 9. As shown in FIGURE 7, it is generally indicated bythe reference numeral 70, and is mounted upon an angle iron 72 bolted tothe underside of the gluing plate at the left hand border thereof. It iscontrolled by front normally open limiting switch 74 having a contactbutton 76 adapted to be actuated by contact with the gluing container,and a rear normally open limiting switch 78 having a contact button 80actuated in like manner on the reverse movement of the gluing container.

A glue hopper 82, as shown in FIGURES 8 and 10 is positioned over thegluing apparatus and is adapted to feed glue into the container 42 whenthe container is positioned at the rear of the apparatus. The dispensingcan be by means through a control valve 84. A catch hopper is positionedunderneath the gluing apparatus and receives excess glue fed through theperforating plate in front slot 86 and rear slot 88 at the completion ofthe sweeping or squeegee stroke of the container as it moves across theglue perforated plate.

The carriage 28 is best shown in FIGURES 12 and 13. As there shown, itis comprised of a frame 89, which supports wheels 90 which ride upon thetriangular rails 26. The frame is further provided with a plurality ofmold supporting fingers 92, which receive the flanges of the mold insupporting position.

The press apparatus may be of any conventional type and it will beunderstood that the carriage is adapted to wheel the drag and copesections of the mold after they have been placed together upon thecompletion of the gluing operation. As shown in FIGURE 1, the press iscomprised of a top portion 94 and a bottom portion 96, with it beingunderstood that the two portions are adapted to be pressed or clampedtogether to hold the flanges of the mold in clamped position to insurebonding of the glue. Upon the completion of a specified period of time,the press is opened :and the mold with the joined drag and cope sectionsbonded together is removed for storing and ultimate pouring, as isconventional in this art.

In FIGURE 14 there is shown a schematic diagram of the limit switch andtimer arrangement. A toggle switch provides for general on and offcontrol of the electrical circuit. The toggle switch is connected inparallel with limit switches 74 and 78, which are normally open and areclosed by the contact of the glue container 42. These switches areconnected in parallel with a delay timer 102 connected to the vibratorand :a normally closed timer 104. A two-way air valve 105, whichcontrols the air cylinder 62, is connected in series with the timer 104.The normally closed timer 104 and the delay timer 102 are connected inparallel to a ground 106.

OPERATION 'In the operation of this invention the drag portion of theshell imold, as shown in FIGURE 1, is first placed upon the carriage 28with shell cores 32 of one type or another positioned in the usualfashion. The carriage is then wheeled underneath the gluing apparatus 20in the direction of the arrows shown in FIGURE 2 to registry position asshown in FIGURE 3. This registery position is held by the contact of thecarriage with a pair of magnets 33 shown in FIGURES 8 and 9 at the leftend portion of the carriage rails.

The gluing plate 38 is chosen so that its perforated holes 48 are in aproper pattern position to dispense glue droplets 98- in a carefullyselected fashion upon the drag portion of the mold. It Will beunderstood that different gluing plates with different glue holearrangements may be employed, or certain of the holes may be plugged, aswill be well understood in the art. With the drag portion of the mold inproper registry, the gluing operation is commenced by operation of thetoggle switch 100. This causes the operation of the two-way air valve105 through the timer 104, and the pneumatic cylinder 62 moves the gluecontainer 42 in a complete path from front to rear, or from the rear tothe front of the gluing frame 40, depending upon its starting position.As the container moves over the gluing plate, glue falls down and fillsthe openings 48, but no glue is dispensed due to the relatively highviscosity of the glue employed.

At the completion of the pass of the glue container, either themicro-switch 74 or 78 will be contacted through the contact of the gluecontainer with the contact buttons of the appropriate micro-switch. Itwill be noted that no glue is dispensed through the perforations,although they are filled with the glue, until the operation of themicro-switch operating through the timer 102 causes the vibrator 70 tooperate. The vibratory movement of the gluing plate 38 then causes thedroplets of glue 98 to fall through the glue openings 48 to immediatelyfall free into the desired position upon the top surface of the dragportion of the mold. There is no hanging or spreading of the glue on theundersurface of the plate, since all of the glue is in effect shakenloose by the vibratory movement and the special configuration of theglue holes through their conical portions 52 and top cylindricalportions 50. Y

After the glue droplets are dispensed upon the completion of the cycle,the carriage is removed with the drag section to the middle portion ofthe table, as shown in FIGURE 5. The top or cope portion of the mold isthen placed upon the bottom drag portion and the assembled mold isrolled into the press apparatus 24. The two halves of the mold are thenpressed or clamped together in conventional fashion, and the operatorcan commence another gluing operation.

Various changes and modifications may be made within this invention aswill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes andmodifications are Within the scope and teaching of this invention asdefined by the claims appended hereto. 1

What is claimed is:

1. A gluing device for dispensing droplets of liquid glue in acontrolled pattern upon an article to be glued comprising a stationreceiving said article, a perforated glue pattern plate overlying saidstation in registry with said article, a glue container including meansto pass said container over the plate whereby to feed a controlledamount of glue to openings in said perforated pattern plate, saidopenings being of a size to normally retain the glue fed thereto, meansfor vibrating said pattern plate to dispense the glue in a controlledpath through the pattern plate openings upon the article to be glued,and switch means operatively connected to said means for vibrating anddisposed in the path of said container whereby at the terminus of thecontainer movement said switch is operated to thereby actuate thevibrator.

2. The gluing device of claim 1 in which the gluing container is atrough having an opening at the bottom and means are provided to movethe container across the pattern plate in a sweeping action to fill theglue openings while leaving no excess glue on the top surface of thepattern plate.

3. The gluing device of claim 1 in which carriage means are provided tosupport said article, and track means are provided guiding said carriageto said station underneath the pattern plate.

4. The gluing device of claim 3 in which magnet means are provided tohold the carriage means at said station during the gluing operation.

5. The gluing device of claim 1 in which the pattern plate has openingswhich are divergent at the bottom surface of the plate to prevent theglue spreading and clinging 0n the bottom surface of the plate beyondthe openings, carriage means are provided to support said article, andtrack means are provided guiding said carriage to said stationunderneath the pattern plate, magnet means are provided to hold thecarriage means at said station during the gluing operation.

6. The gluing device of claim 1 in which the pattern plate has openingswhich are divergent at the bottom surface of the plate to prevent theglue spreading and clinging on the bottom surface of the plate beyondthe openings, car-riage means are provided to support said article, andtrack means are provided guiding said carriage to said stationunderneath the pattern plate, magnet means are provided to hold thecarriage means at said station during the gluing operation, and switchmeans are provided responsive to contact by said glue container after ithas moved across the pattern plate to a limiting position after the glueopenings are filled with glue to actuate a vibrator connected to saidpattern plate to vibrate the plate and shake droplets of glue therefromin a controlled pattern upon the article to be glued.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.514,186 11/ 1924 Van Houten107-7.1 2,165,068 7/ 1939 Protzeller 209-397 X 21,301,514 11/ 1942Brewster 209397 2,754,555 7/1956 Young 164-399 2,899,726 8/ 1959 Hackett156580 X 2,961,946 11/1960' Quist 10'1123 3,059,610 10/1962 Mintz 118-73,262,419 7/1966 Knight 118-7 3,285,413 11/ 1966 Taylor-Smith 209-397 XCHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. MORRIS KAPLAN, AssistantExaminer.

1. A GLUING DEVICE FOR DISPENSING DROPLETS OF LIQUID GLUE IN ACONTROLLED PATTERN UPON AN ARTICLE TO BE GLUED COMPRISING A STATIONRECEIVING SAID ARTICLE, A PERFORATED GLUE PATTERN PLATE OVERLYING SAIDSTATION IN REGISTRY WITH SAID ARTICLE, A GLUE CONTAINER INCLUDING MEANSTO PASS SAID CONTAINER OVER THE PLATE WHEREBY TO FEED A CONTROLLEDAMOUNT OF GLUE TO OPENINGS IN SAID PERFORATED PATTERN PLATE, SAIDOPENINGS BEING OF A SIZE TO NORMALLY RETAIN THE GLUE FED THERETO, MEANSFOR VIBRATING SAID PATTERN PLATE TO DISPENSE THE GLUE IN A CONTROLLEDPATH THROUGH THE PATTERN PLATE OPENINGS UPON THE ARTICLE TO BE GLUED,AND SWITCH MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID MEANS FOR VIBRATING ANDDISPOSED IN THE PATH OF SAID CONTAINER WHEREBY AT THE TERMINUS OF THECONTAINER MOVEMENT SAID SWITCH IS OPERATED TO THEREBY ACTUATE THEVIBRATOR.